How 100m Sprinters Stay So Lean

100m sprinters do all out efforts for 9-10 seconds. So they don't have much use for endurance training. How do they manage to stay so lean? Do they the typical HIIT routines, e.g. sprint 30 seconds, walk 30 second, then repeat 6 times?

Perhaps they avoid this kind of training because the exhaustion will train their nervous systems to go slower?

There is no doubt in my mind that they do more than just sprint for 100m at a time. I would imagine they do weight training especially explosive style lifts. The extra strength would only be a bonus to someone who goes all out for just a few seconds.

They do a lot of explosive weightlifting like snatches and cleans. They also train a lot more than a few 30 second sprints and they run for a lot longer than 100 meters while they are training. They run A LOT and their diets are among the cleanest.

100m sprinters do all out efforts for 9-10 seconds. So they don't have much use for endurance training. How do they manage to stay so lean? Do they the typical HIIT routines, e.g. sprint 30 seconds, walk 30 second, then repeat 6 times?

Perhaps they avoid this kind of training because the exhaustion will train their nervous systems to go slower?

Do they just do multiple sprints separated by long rests?

Maybe the key to their leaness is eating really cleanly?

100-metre sprinters generally stay so lean because of the type of training that they do, as opposed to their diet (although at the top level, their diets are spot on also).

I have trained 100m, 200m and 400m sprinters.

Sprinters do a lot of anaerobic work and they run further than their race distance in training sessions (as already mentioned). They spend time not only on their starts and sprints, but on speed endurance as well. Training sessions are intense, involving plometrics, standing and crouch starts, sprints ranging from 20m, to 400m+, with the recovery periods varying depending on what each sprint is targeted towards (i.e. acceleration, speed, etc.).

They also spend time in the gym doing resistance training, focusing on gaining strength and power that will translate into explosiveness and speed.

In fact, track and field sprinters train a lot like a sprint cyclist would (in their respective modes for training, of course); this equates to ~4-6 hours on the track at least 4-5 days a week and ~1-2 hours in the gym 2-4 times a week.

Always have loved sprinting and of course watching it on the devil box aka TV. When I'm at the track huffing & puffin' from performing sprints or endurance sprints I feel ALOT is getting done. What a feeling it is. LOVE IT!

More people need to get off the cement walking/running and get onto the track.

100-metre sprinters generally stay so lean because of the type of training that they do, as opposed to their diet (although at the top level, their diets are spot on also).

I have trained 100m, 200m and 400m sprinters.

Sprinters do a lot of anaerobic work and they run further than their race distance in training sessions (as already mentioned). They spend time not only on their starts and sprints, but on speed endurance as well. Training sessions are intense, involving plometrics, standing and crouch starts, sprints ranging from 20m, to 400m+, with the recovery periods varying depending on what each sprint is targeted towards (i.e. acceleration, speed, etc.).

They also spend time in the gym doing resistance training, focusing on gaining strength and power that will translate into explosiveness and speed.

In fact, track and field sprinters train a lot like a sprint cyclist would (in their respective modes for training, of course); this equates to ~4-6 hours on the track at least 4-5 days a week and ~1-2 hours in the gym 2-4 times a week.

~Rosie
Team APPNUT

why have i not started being a sprinter. it sounds like with that training i could be 5% bodyfat year round lol.